The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1887-09-14
THE HUDSON BAY COUNTRY.
Interesting Information About q Com
psrstivciy Unknown Land.
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Letter In Pittsburgh Post
Those who have never seen life as it
exists among the inhabitants of the
Hudson Bay country would be aston
ished at the extent of civilization
among class Of people generally sup
posed to be savages, as we'll as at the
awful grandeur of the scenery and for
bidding aspect of the graveyard coasts
along the shores of that northern sea.
In all the uninhabitable region of
North America there is nowhere to be
found more bleak, desolate, or dreary
waste than that between Ungava Bav.
off the coast of Labrador on the east,
and Fort Churchill, on the west and
southern part of Hudson Bay proper.
Although little is known yet regarding
this weird and frozen region, it has had
growth within the last half century
which has been something phenomenal,
and having been measured according
to its needs by the God of Nature has
gone on advancing from age to age,
until at the present time not alone the
more fertile islands, but the extent
of land back from the coast on
either side, is thickly populated by q
people who hunt and fish and breed
and talk and chatter even among the
misery and restitution which life in a
region of perpetual frost and snow
must bring. Hudson Bay itself is
really an inland sea, extending between
latitude 81 degrees and GA degrees
north, and longitude II degrees and
80 degrees west, and while about 1000
miles long at its greatest distance, is
only about 600 miles in breadth, COW
ering an area of over 100000 square
miles. 1t is navigable only for about
three months in the year-from the
middle of June to the middle of Sep
tember-and for the remainder of the
year is filled with drift ice, which rem
ders navigation, even for short dis
lance, an absolute impossibility. The
eastern coasts of the bay are sights to
be admired, cliffs rising in many cases
to height of from 100 to 400 feet alb
ruptly from the waters edge, and, be-
ing composed of glazier- like sub
stance which, being ever coated with
ice and frozen snow shine in the sun
light until it is almost impossible to
look ut them for any length of time.
The residents of this section are not
properly Esquimaux, but a cross be-
tween this race and the French and
Indians, who have come in for the pur-
pose of hunting and fishing, and final
ly settled down among the ma
tives to live as they do
and share with them in the
privations which no other life affords.
On an average, in the summer months,
the thermometer stands at about 40 deg
above, while the temperature in the
winter runs as low as so deg. below
zero, and will average about 25 deg.
below. Fish are scarce, and can be
caught only in the rivers, of which on
the east there is only the Great Whale,
while on the west there are the Hayes,
Nelson, Churchill, Moore, Albany,
Weeknisk, Main, and Abbitibbe. Seal
abound in plenty, but are extremely
shy and hard for the natives to get at,
while porpoise and walrus are equally
difficult to get hold of. Were it not for
the small fur-bearing animals which
are about the shores the poor half
breeds would stand very good chance
of perishing by hunger, as they can ex-
pect nothing in the way of favors from
the Hudson Bay Company's stores, a
few of which are along the coast. The
natives live in little villages composed
of from fifty to 100 rude huts. Each
community has its place of worship
and its church burial ground, which is
aries, a few of whom are to be
found wandering about from vii
lage to village, from the east
ern extent of the settlements down
as far as Fort Churchhill on the
west. These faithful, beloved men ex-
pect no recompense for their services,
and if they did they wouldn't get it,
for there is not in all the country such
a thing as money, the only exchange
being in fish, oil, or furs. Whenever
one of tribe dies the rest of his fam
ily-meaning by that the entire settle
ment-stop work for the day and pre-
pare to bury him. If the settlement
possesses such thing as dinner-bell,
and the most of them do, the oldest
man in the village goes about from
hut to hut and rings the bell IN front
of each until the occupants come out,
both big and little, and, falling into
line, march after him. When the cir
cult has been made, and big and little
are all collected, a march is made for
the kirote, as it is called, the village
church, which consists of about an
acre of ground simply inclosed by
wall of stones near the middle of the
community. Into this little field go
the entire populace, and after chanting
the virtues of the dead for some hours,
the corpse is taken away on a skin
rack and covered with ice and snow in
the common burial plot. The rest of
the day is spent in rejoicing, and the
next day, if the deceased was married,
his better half makes another choice,
and at the end of week, if an agree
ment be come to, the dead is forgotten
and the no longer sorrowing ones be-
gin life over again.
The Same Law for Both.